


Winter Softness

by twowritehands



Series: Fluffiest Fluff in Letterkenny [4]
Category: Letterkenny (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-05
Updated: 2018-07-05
Packaged: 2019-06-04 18:36:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15153191
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twowritehands/pseuds/twowritehands
Summary: Yer prize heifer goes into labor in the middle of a blizzard the other day...(like every fic in this series,  this stands alone)





	Winter Softness

The storm sounded like hell unleashed outside the barn. The heaters made it cozy enough for Wayne and Daryl to camp there without so many layers. They spent hours sitting with her, listening to the wind and ice. The heifer paced the whole barn ten times and got up and laid back down only to get back up again and pace some more. Looked like a mighty uncomfortable state, and Wayne wished it wasn’t necessary to keep her milking.

He wished even more that a runaway bull hadn't gotten to her two months too early. Some fucking kid across town didn't close a fucking gate, and the fucking bull crossed the fucking county to get her through Wayne’s fucking fence. (Fuckin’ kids.)

Now she was calving in the dead of fucking february and it was fucking inconvenient.

Darry was getting anxious.

She was an old dam, it was likely her last calf, and the labor was old hat to her. But not the storm. Darry had been keeping her calm with the old love songs he crooned every day while milking--

Well, Wayne was gonna come right out and say it, it was keeping him calm, too. Darry didn't sing in front of other people enough without serious provocation. (Wayne knew to appreciate how he stopped being Other People several years ago.)

The dam finally stopped her pacing, so stage two was underway.

“How's it looking’?”

Wayne squinted underneath and saw a yellow spherical thing emerging. “Got eyes on the water sac.”

Darry grinned and kissed her on the face. “Good girl, Flower.”

Wayne schooled his face.

Darry had given them all soft names like Flower, Sunny, and fucking Boo-boo, and Wayne didn't have the heart to put an end to it. After all, Daryl was the one who milked them every single day before the sun came up, and all his chores catered to their comfort and health so they were more his than Wayne's anyways.

Wayne kept an eye on the cow while Darry scrubbed in, in case she needed some assistance. With the storm the roads were impossible for vets to travel, so everyone was hoping for a clean, fast delivery with no complications.

“Hooves...aaand the nooooose,” Wayne said like a hockey announcer. He started a stopwatch.

“How do they look?”

Wayne extended an arm with a thumbs up. “Good position.”

Darry settled back on his heels with a pert near moronic grin. Wayne felt the relief too but still plenty could go wrong here without a doc.

Flower received endless praise from Darry as he pulled on an apron and long rubber gloves. He held off on the lubricant for now and crossed his arms. It was unlikely she’d need him.

“She's a pro. She's forgotten more about giving birth than any vet will ever know. That’s for damn sure.”

“She was dropping healthy calves with no never mind while you were still running from cooties and that's a fact.” Wayne’s blue eyes were filled with the special glint he saved for teasing Darry, who harrumphed at the implication that he wasn't a man at age nineteen. He kicked some hay and spit.

“Eyes on the prize, Super Chief.”

Wayne refocused on Flower with squirming lips. Darry shook his head. It was unspoken but Wayne would pay for that one later in the sack, in a way they both looked forward to.

The howling winds doubled down on the back corner, rattling the eaves something awful. The other cows mooed and shuffled in their stalls. Flower flicked her tail, nervous.

Since Darry had gone and sanitized, Wayne had to go to her head to comfort her. Darry sang some more.

And when you think about it, she was more familiar with him crooning back there than up at her eyes. Wayne gave her a loving rub and had to admit she was pretty fucking cute.

Minutes piled on, and Darry coaxed Flower and the lil’n like maybe they just needed a confidence boost to get ‘er done. He kept a close eye on the watch.

“Been too long. She needs a little help,” he decided.

Wayne didn't argue, but his worry spiked. This was a delicate procedure and he would rather do it himself to make sure it was done properly but he knew Darry felt the exact same way and they were more his cows afterall…

Darry tied the rope around the calf’s feet and began tugging whenever Flower strained. Wayne helped out by holding Flower steady and announcing each contraction he felt under his hands and telling Darry when to stop pulling.

It was slow but steady work. Wayne didn't breathe the entire time and tried not to stare at the serious look of concentration on Darry’s face or the way he kept flipping his curls out of his eyes

The calf came free with a rush of fluid. Female, mostly white. Darry collapsed with her, wiped the nose clean of goop and gave her a little tickle with the hay to get her breathing. Nothing.

Fuck. Wayne hurried to grab one of their tin cups from the rail. He tossed the hot coffee and filled it with cold water, then tossed that right on her ears. It worked to shock her into breathing. She shook it off and clambered indignantly to her feet.

Darry hollered triumphantly. Wayne applauded and then gripped Darry tight on the shoulder. “Good job, Dar.”

His smile went a little bashful. Wayne gave him a smooch. Darry blinked slow and licked his lips like he could taste Wayne on them, but they still had work to do.

They caught the newborn, cleaned her up and set her on Flower to nurse, but the cantankerous calf wouldn't suck. Darry lead her to the tit and squirted her in the face but she wouldn’t latch on. Happened sometimes with a difficult calving.

In the end, they had to tube feed her which meant another night or three camped in the barn, depending on how soon they could get her suckling. The cot was small for two but it was cold enough to make cuddling comfortable. Toe curlin’ would have to wait; three cows, two dogs, and a mean as hell barn cat constituted an audience. Wayne lay under Darry at night with ice pelting the barn roof and he missed the privacy and comfort in their king-size bed up in the house.

It wasn’t s’bad, though. There was something soft in the way Darry nursed the problem calf so patiently--but then that could have just been Wayne being so sweet on him and seeing more than what was there.

Darry named her Teacup, on account of how Wayne had got her breathing and also because cow milk went in tea.

“Yer 10 ply, bud.”

Over the next couple of days, they took turns tube feeding Teacup, and it _was_ soft the way Darry watched Wayne do it. He sat on a bale of hay, Indian style, and smiling at Wayne like a fuckwit. It made Wayne feel softer’n’shit.

The storm raged on outside the barn walls with only a brief break here or there. Deep snow drifts sealed them inside nice and tight. No worries since their job wasn't done here anyways and they had enough food for weeks.

When they weren't chorin in the barn, they were huddled in the hay under blankets playing cards and word games. Or kissing a little bit just to keep their body heat up.

They tended to the other cows, food and water and general check overs.  They were all pregnant and in dry periods leading up to their springtime calvings so Darry only needed to milk Flower to relieve the pressure since Teacup wouldn't do it.

More than once Wayne woke to the smell of hay and fresh manure, and the sound of Daryl crooning one stall over.

They ate jerky and drank fresh foamy milk that gave them mustaches. Wayne rough housed with the dogs when they got restless. The sight of him rolling through the dirt and hay with a schoolboy grin made Darry prop up on a fist with a school _girl_ grin. When Wayne caught it, there was a heated moment and they both wished they could scamper off alone somewhere. Fuck.

The barn cat brought Darry a mouse and Darry gave him some milk. The tomcat purred and showed his belly for a scratch. Wayne saw the whole thing and suspected it was a trade that happened often between them, because he'd never seen that cat be anything but half evil.

Finally, after a couple of days, Teacup took to suckling properly. Thankfully, by then the storm broke long enough for Katy and Dan to shovel them out.

Wayne was so thankful to have a shower, he didn’t want to wait his turn, so jumped in with Darry who was already sudsy. His eyes raked over Wayne as the water splashed over him. He flipped wet curls out of his eyes and pinned Wayne against the hot wet tiles with another serious look of concentration….


End file.
